There’s a good little article in the new issue of In These Times on privatization of core library services and functions: “Public Libraries for Profit,” by Akito Yoshikane. Though it’s … Read more In These Times on library privatization
Here’s a quick analogy for undergrads who want to just use Google for their research papers: “Why eat at McDonalds when you can eat for free at the five star … Read more An analogy for undergrads
I am remiss not to have mentioned Siva Vaidhyanathan‘s new blog about Google and the implications of their projects: The Googlization of Everything. It’s really top notch commentary on Google, … Read more Siva Vaidhyanathan’s Googlization blog
Notwithstanding today’s earlier post and many other posts here about what is wrong in the world of information, I’d like to observe American Thanksgiving by noting that we have much … Read more Thanksgiving
Remember the National Endowment for the Arts study on reading in 2004, the one that noted a sharp decline in literary reading? One of the implicit causes was that computer … Read more NEA study: all types of reading in decline
This is good news. Toni Samek, the subject of the last post here, has been picked for the first annual Library Journal Teaching Award. Read the article byLJ’s John N. … Read more Toni Samek wins first annual Library Journal Teaching Award
The BCLA IFC blog has an interview with Toni Samek, who is a very progressive LIS professor at the University Alberta. Toni writes and teaches on topics in critical librarianship, … Read more Interview with Toni Samek
Library Juice Press now has its own Facebook Page…. Facebook Pages are different from Facebook Groups in that they are profiles that companies, organizations, or other entities set up in … Read more LJP Facebook Page
My first experiment as a publisher was a Pig Latin translation of the Book of Psalms and the Book of Proverbs. I have not been very public about this project, … Read more Pig Latin Bible
I found these on Arts & Letters Daily. A comment about that site after the links. First, an article from the New Yorker by Anthony Grafton: Future Reading: Digitization and … Read more A couple of interesting links
I have long been aware that that Canadian postal service will stop delivery of materials it deems obscene or otherwise censorship-worthy. I was not aware that they published a list … Read more Censorship at the Canadian Border
Library Juice Press Facebook group….
Peter Suber is a major leader in the Open Access movement. (His Open Access News is an indispensible source – extremely detailed and up to date.) Today Richard Poynder of … Read more All about Peter Suber
The new issue of Information for Social Change, issue 25, is available online. It is another theme issue, this time dealing with libraries and information workers in conflict situations. Examples … Read more New issue of Information for Social Change
Here is a diagnosis of a certain malady in our body politic: the “both sides have a point” reflex. It stems from a desire for fairness and from the recognition … Read more “The truth is somewhere in between” as a way to avoid thinking
First, Jeffrey Chester’s Google and Data-Seizure, about the significance of Google’s acquisition of Doubleclick, the internet marketing and company whose business is based on showing banner ads and tracking users’ … Read more Two articles of interest from The Nation
Here’s an interesting article from the July-August isssue of New Left Review relating the history of socialism to the history of print culture. It suggests, without quite stating it, that … Read more Socialism and print culture
A creative MIT student made a thing out of a circuit board and some LEDs and wore it on her shirt. She’s young, 19, so it’s understandable that she didn’t … Read more I’m shocked and appalled that you’re shocked and appalled
The British Columbia Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee has a new blog, which I will read regularly. It’s been going since late August, and in that time I’d say it’s … Read more British Columbia Library Association IFC blog
Kathleen de la Pe?±a McCook recommends some books on libraries and the public sphere. This list is a good prescription for getting reinspired as an ethically and politically grounded professional.